Late game-winner lifts Georgia to emotional victory

Levi Stukes provided the heroics and Georgia upset No. 21 LSU on a day that would have been special for the Bulldogs not matter what the outcome of their game. <br/><br/>On the day Georgia honored Kevin

Monday, January 29th 2007, 6:56 am

By: News On 6

Levi Stukes provided the heroics and Georgia upset No. 21 LSU on a day that would have been special for the Bulldogs not matter what the outcome of their game.

On the day Georgia honored Kevin Brophy, who died in an automobile accident on July 19, Stukes delivered a last-second 3 to lift the Bulldogs to a 57-54 win over the Tigers on Sunday.

Brophy's family traveled from Australia for a pregame ceremony. The Bulldogs wear ``Do it for Broph'' patches on their jerseys this season to honor the player who came to Georgia as a walk-on and earned a scholarship in his second year.

Stukes, who made a buzzer-beating 3 in overtime to top South Carolina a little more than a year ago, said he immediately thought of his deceased former teammate after hitting the winner against LSU.

``When I hit the game-winning shot at South Carolina, the first guy who was off the bench hugging me and on top of me was Kevin Brophy,'' Stukes said. ``This means a whole lot to me, more than last year's, I think, because when I think about my career here and the shots I made, this shot is probably the one I'll remember the most because of Kevin.''

After making the shot, Stukes was hugged by members of Brophy's family.

In other games involving ranked teams, it was: No. 2 Wisconsin 57, Iowa 46; Stanford 75, No. 3 UCLA 68; No. 10 Duke 75, Boston College 61; No. 15 Marquette 70, South Florida 68; Virginia 64, No. 19 Clemson 63; and No. 24 Virginia Tech 73, Georgia Tech 65.

The loss left LSU (13-7, 2-4 Southeastern Conference), a Final Four team last season, with its first three-game losing streak since losing the final three games of its 2003-04 season.

Glen Davis led LSU with 18 points, 14 rebounds and a career-high six assists.

``I thought that we played hard and did enough things to win this game,'' said LSU coach John Brady. ``The bottom line is the game came down to the last shot and they made it.''

At Stanford, Lawrence Hill scored seven, straight points including the tying and go-ahead baskets, and finished with 22 to help the Cardinal rally to stun UCLA (18-2, 7-2 Pac-10) .

Arron Afflalo had 22 points, six rebounds and five assists for the Bruins, who were thoroughly outplayed in the second half and had their four-game winning streak snapped. Their only other loss came Jan. 6 at Oregon, 68-66.

Anthony Goods scored 17 of his 20 points in the second half as Stanford won its third straight and sixth in seven to complete a sweep of the ranked Los Angeles schools after a 65-50 victory over No. 25 USC on Thursday night.

Maybe now it's the Cardinal's turn to earn a ranking. Stanford (14-5, 6-3) was picked to finish seventh in the surprisingly even Pac-10.

No. 2 Wisconsin 57, Iowa 46

At Iowa City, Alando Tucker scored 27 points, Brian Butch added 13 points and 14 rebounds and Wisconsin eclipsed the best start in school history.

Tucker went 11-of-14 from the floor for the Badgers (21-1, 7-0 Big Ten), who topped the old mark of 20-1 set in 1915-16.

Wisconsin also extended the nation's longest winning streak to 17 games.

Adam Haluska scored 16 points to lead Iowa (11-10, 3-4 Big Ten), which saw its 12-game home winning streak against Big Ten opponents snapped. The Hawkeyes fell for just the second time in 30 games at home.

No. 10 Duke 75, Boston College 61

At Durham, N.C., DeMarcus Nelson scored 17 points to lead Duke.

Josh McRoberts had 16 points, 12 rebounds and five blocks for the Blue Devils (18-3, 5-2 Atlantic Coast Conference), who have won five straight games since an 0-2 league start. Duke has won the past six meetings, including all three since the Eagles joined the ACC.

Jared Dudley scored 17 points to lead the Eagles (14-6, 6-2), who fell out of first place in the league.

No. 15 Marquette 70, South Florida 68

At Tampa, Fla., Dominic James scored 16 points and Jerel McNeal stole a pass and drove nearly the length of the floor to make a layup at the buzzer to give Marquette a victory over South Florida.

James made a difficult layup in heavy traffic to tie the game with 15 seconds remaining, then McNeal provided he winner after South Florida called a timeout to set up a potential game-winning play with nine seconds left.

McNeal finished with 13 points and Marquette (19-4, 6-2), won its sixth straight.

McHugh Mattis led South Florida (11-11, 2-6) with 20 points and nine rebounds.

Virginia 64, No. 19 Clemson 63

At Clemson, S.C., Jason Cain's tip-in with 15.5 seconds left capped a 16-point comeback over the final nine minutes to lift Virginia over Clemson.

The Cavaliers (13-6, 5-2 Atlantic Coast Conference) trailed 61-45 after Cliff Hammonds' 3-pointer with 8:47 to go. But Clemson was held to two foul shots the rest of the way.

It was the second straight improbable defeat for Clemson (18-4, 4-4), which lost at Duke 68-66 on David McClure's layup with no time remaining this past Thursday night when officials incorrectly added time after the Tigers had tied the game.

No. 24 Virginia Tech 73, Georgia Tech 65

At Atlanta, Zabian Dowdell scored 23 points and A.D. Vassallo had 19 to help Virginia Tech beat Georgia Tech.

The Hokies (16-5, 6-1 Atlantic Coast Conference) have won three straight and 12 of 14.

Their biggest lead was only 10 points, coming on Coleman Collins' dunk with 17:43 remaining, but Virginia Tech never allowed the Yellow Jackets to pull any closer than three after Javaris Crittenton hit a 3-pointer 2:24 later.

Georgia Tech (13-7, 2-5) has lost three straight to drop into 10th place in the ACC.